Mouse in the House!

With the colder weather just around the corner, it's that time for furry little critters to start finding new homes. Since we have been in this house, over 3 years, we have never had any mice move in. But what is the saying...something about never say never? Well, we have spotted a mouse, or maybe more than one, I honestly can't tell them apart, in our garage. So far, no signs that they have come any further inside the house, but the garage is too close for me. My kids think it's great! They think it is fun! Last year we had a squirrel spend the winter living underneath our big landscape rocks out front, they think this mouse in the garage is cute like that was. I don't think so. They do not, however, like that the shoe bin is located out in the garage and they get a little freaked out because twice we have spotted a mouse in the shoe bin. (I don't keep my shoes in the garage with the other shoes because of this and other various reasons.)

Sidney keeps begging us to catch the mouse and let her keep it as a pet. I briefly considered this given the current economic situation we are all facing. I could save some bucks come Christmas time because everyone knows where you see one mouse there are always more you don't see. I teased her about catching it for her and giving it to her for Christmas. I think she actually would have been okay with that idea. Eeeww!

So tonight when we went to buy pumpkins we also picked up some mouse traps. We strategically set up a few in the garage and within 15 minutes had caught our first mouse. Sidney ran out to the garage to see the mouse because she really hasn't seen any up close and personal. She was oohing and aahing and commented that it even had a red nose, which is what she usually colors the nose on the mice she draws. That is until Jeff smashed her little illusion by telling her that "it's nose is not red! That is blood!" Thanks dad for letting her down easy! Guess I'm going to actually have to spend money on her Christmas present now.

No, this is not a cardboard cutout!!

Some of you may have heard that Hillary was in town on Saturday. Thanks, to my brother, Ben, who was in charge of the event, I was able to get fabulous seats so that I could get up close afterward and meet Hillary and have my picture taken with her. Now, I know many of my friends and even some family may be wondering Why?! Why would someone want to attend an event such as this? I'm telling you...I love it! It's very exciting. I also got to meet former Pres. Bill Clinton last year about this time. Maybe it wouldn't be as exciting if my brother didn't have connections and I wasn't able to get fabulous seats and hear about all the "behind scenes chatter", but I do so it's great! Now hopefully he can get some connections within the soon-to-be Pres. Obama camp so that I can go to his events when he comes to Utah! Thanks Ben!!

Polling Prison?!?

So I signed up to be a poll worker on election day. I do love election day! I have been known to stay up to the wee hours of the morning watching election day coverage and it is especially exciting to me during a Presidential Election year. Also, I have my youngest child in kindergarten and I thought since I have more time, this was something I could do. I called the county clerks office to sign up to be a poll worker. She told me that I would need to attend a 3 hour training session...fine....and there would be various shifts available to sign up for on that day. I thought piece of cake...I'll sign up for an afternoon shift, drop my kindergartener off to school and go do my poll worker thing. I knew that I might be signed up for a shift that lasted until the polls closed, but I was thinking I could do this. I can do my part to be a good citizen.

I then received a letter in the mail letting me know how to sign up for my training session. However, a line in the letter stood out to me because it didn't jive with what I had previously understood. It stated that all poll workers will need to arrive at their polling locations at 6am and should expect to be there until approximately 9:30 pm. It said, in bold letters...you will not be able to leave the polling location until the polls have closed and all the votes have been registered. We are to bring all three meals for the day with us or arrange for somebody to bring them to us. I was a bit confused by this new piece of information since I thought I got to "pick" a shift.

I went to the 3 hour training today, which by the way, was pretty interesting. I found out the letter was indeed correct. I will be working from 6am until about 9:30pm. Also, they said that we really shouldn't plan on somebody bringing us a full meal because we really won't have time to eat a full meal all at once. They strongly recommend bringing a bunch of "grazing" foods such as crackers, cheese cubes etc. that we can just pop in when we get a minute. I now have a whole new appreciation for those poll workers I always see when I go to vote. Now when you go to vote at your polling location you can also appreciate those workers who are putting in long hours and think of me...popping cheese cubes in my mouth when I get the chance.

Laundry Lag

So I am figuring out how all my favorite bloggers actually keep up on their blogs much better than me...you don't do laundry, do you? My washing machine broke yesterday. It refuses to do the spin cycle anymore. And since my husand is still out of town for the Buffalo hunt, refer to previous post, there isn't anything I can do about it. (By the way...he did get a Buffalo!) Since it broke yesterday I have come to the realization that I spend way too much time doing laundry. Now that I can't do it, I have time for many more things...such as keeping current on my blogs. This is great! I wonder how long I can actually go. This is so liberating! I actually have two loads, unfolded...one in the basket, one still in the dryer and I have no intention of folding them. I know the laundry will not be piling up if I don't get to it because there is no new load of laundry beckoning for the basket. My neighbor offered to let me use her washer, but I told her "no thanks!" I'm enjoying the freedom from laundry as long as I can. Of course, Jeff will be coming home tomorrow and he'll probably want to wash his hunting clothes. Now the question is repairman or buy new? I hate laundry!

Hunting Widow

So my fabulous husband has vacated the premises for the next few days and has opted to head to Wyoming with some great friends in search of Buffalo. I am clearing the shelf in my freezer as soon as I am done blogging to make room for the 300 lbs. of meat he will be returning with. Of course, if it is anything like his deer hunting experience it is a good thing we have grocery stores and are not reliant on the men to provide the food for the tribe. I have been assured that he is guaranteed a Buffalo. I think he pretty much signed up to go hunting at a Buffalo farm where they drive the men out as close to the Buffalo as they can get and let them shoot them as if they were cattle. I have also been assured that Buffalo meat "tastes a lot like beef" and I probably won't even notice a difference, except of course, it is much leaner and because it is a young Buffalo, it will also be much more tender. Aren't I a lucky girl?

Parenting 101

So I went to parent teacher conference at the junior high with both fear and trepidation. Actually, I was dreading it, as I watched the clock, knowing the time to go was getting closer and closer. So, I went to talk with the math teacher first. I was nice, I was polite, I was an interested parent wanting to know what I could do to help my daughter. I walked away with nothing. She told me we could re-do assignements, quizzes and tests for half credit. We are already doing that and by the way, have dropped back to a D-. I asked her if she had any other suggestions. She suggested that we have a "conference" to discuss what we could do to raise the D-, she says this as she circles the D- on the paper. I wanted to be nice and not create any uncomfortable feelings, but I am thinking to myself..."isn't this a conference?" So I asked her what we would do in that conference that we couldn't do right now. She suggested that Alex could attend so she could tell us why she is getting a D- and what the teacher could do to help. Do you really think it is going to be that easy? All this pain, and the solution is really that easy? I'm thinking call the school counselor and request a class change to a different teacher.

What I learned from going to the conference, however, was a life lesson that bears blogging about. I went to all of her other classes and repeatedly heard things like, "Oh, Alex is such a fabulous kid" or "she is so organized and self-motivated" or "she is such a delight". The truth is she is getting 4 As, 2 B+ and then the D-. I knew this, in fact, I could see the grades on the web page right there with the D-, but I focused on the D-. I think it consumed us so much that I forgot to see that she was getting some really good grades and that she is a fabulous kid! So the parenting 101 lesson is slow down and enjoy the moment! Don't get so caught up in what isn't there and the struggle you are currently facing that you aren't able to see the successes you are having or the things that are going right. It's a message I heard this last week both from President Monson and Oprah...slow down, simplify and live in the moment! Now I'm no dummy...if both President Monson and Oprah are saying it, it must be true!

Jr. High Pinch

So I haven't written on my blog for a while because pre-algebra has been consuming my every free moment. Okay, Jeff is actually better at pre-algebra than I am and so it is fair to say that it consumes his free moments more than mine. My free moments are consumed by pre-algebra drama such as trying to calm Alex down and remind her that she is not a math reject, she just needs to slow down...you can't rush algebraic functions!!! Or trying to talk Jeff down from his frustrating tutoring sessions with his beloved oldest daughter. This is my child who went from mostly A's (or 4s as they refer to them in elementary school) to a student who now has a few As, some Bs and B+s and a solid D in pre-algebra. The solid D is up from the D- she has had since about the second week of school. We just spent a very long, rainy weekend with her completely frustrated and in tears because we won't let her go hang out with friends until the grade is at least a C. She is allowed to go to YW on Tuesdays and YW volleyball on Thurs. and other than that, she pretty much gets to spend time with us, her favorite people right now. This afternoon I am going to parent-teacher conferences at the junior high. Let me tell you, I am so looking forward to that experience. Wish me luck! I want out of this pre-algebra nightmare!!